Are you struggling to create a Social Media Strategy? Perhaps you’re reviewing your current plan and don’t know how to improve it? There are a number of factors that you need to take into consideration.
Customer personas
Do you have a vision of who your ideal customer is? What their interests are? What frustrates them? What’s their name, even?
If not then it’s time to find out. If you’re an established business you’ll have a wealth of customer data that you can analyze. However, if you’re a new business, or looking to expand, creating a customer persona is the first step in preparing your strategy. One that will help you to engage with your target audience. You will need to consider the following:
- Demographics
- Lifestyle
- Interests
- Product choices
- Personal goals
- Personality and beliefs
- What are their past behaviors?
- Why do they / should they interact with your company?
- How and where do they shop?
Persona example
Jane is 66, she’s a retired nurse and lives alone. She loves cats, the theatre, music and is a keen environmentalist. She chooses ethical brands such as Fairtrade as she hates the way in which corporate businesses exploit workers. Not only does she boycott them but she calls them out via social media, too!
She volunteers for Friends of the Earth amongst other charities. Jane believes that we are the stewards of the planet and it is our duty to protect it.
Jane reads The Guardian, listens to Radio 4, and enjoys watching documentaries. To reduce her carbon footprint she buys her food from farm shops.
Jane would interact with our company because she appreciates the customer service we provide. She has retweeted some of our charitable posts to her followers so she could become an online ambassador for us.
Customer personas help you to visualize who your ideal customers are so you can create content they will engage with. If you were looking to publicize your organization’s environmental credentials on social media then a customer like Jane would possibly like or retweet it.
Your social media metrics will provide you with the evidence as to which campaigns have been successful. You’ll be able to create new, more precise personas based on the demographics captured in this data, too.
Brand pillars
These consist of themes that highlight the uniqueness of a brand and will be publicized throughout your marketing: i.e. ‘Technology is at the heart of what we do.’ Brand pillars are one of 4 elements that make a brand’s persona. (Mission, brand promise, brand essence). Jane would be encouraged to read that: ‘Sustainability is at the heart of our business: through the suppliers, we work with to the people we employ.’
Content pillars
These are a list of key themes that you will be covering in your blog posts, videos, tweets. These are aligned with your leading articles (bedrock content). Shorter, bite-size content can be created from these. Content pillars help you to create articles that align with your marketing objectives and interest your followers.
Other important considerations:
Channels
Find the network that works for you. Don’t be lured into thinking that you have to be on all the same channels as everyone else. Analyze the metrics for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc and see whether the followers you want are using those sites. Do these metrics mirror the customer personas you created?
Timing
Different groups use social media in varying ways. Find out which are the most appropriate times to post your content and your followers are more likely to respond. You’ll need to check this out channel by channel.
Tone of voice
What’s the culture of your company? Is it a young, dynamic start-up? Is it a large, well established, corporate organization? A company’s culture will affect the way in which you communicate with your audience and the language you use. Will you choose an authoritative voice or a more conversational style? Whichever you choose, a consistent tone of voice is key.
Design
Do you have a set of brand guidelines that you use across your communications? They will support you to create content that is on-brand.
Photographs
Consider the types of photos you upload. Do they reflect the audience who you are looking to attract?
Scheduling
Keeping your audience informed and entertained can be a daunting task Ensure you schedule in regular posts by using systems such as Buffer. It will enable you to upload content in advance and across multiple channels.
Engaging customers on social media can be a time-consuming process. If you’d like help with managing your social media give us a call at Digital Dinos. With our knowledge and expertise, you’ll be supported each step of the way.
